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Beginning Shamanism

AnonSeeker

New Member
I am beginning Shamanism and have already been on my first journey where I met my spirit guides. Now I am unsure on how to continue, all of the teachers I find charge money online and I am unable to fly to america or travel for to meet in person with someone.

Does anyone know a teacher of shamanism or does anyone here like to become my teacher, using email to communicate, free of charge?
I would be very grateful and interested.

Thank you.
 

maxfreakout

Active Member
I recommend you read some good books on the subject, the shamanic teacher Don Jose Campos has written a very extensive book about shamanism

i was initiated in the Colombian shamanic tradition some years ago and would be happy to share information with you here by private message if you want
 
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DreadFish

Cosmic Vagabond
I think its important to note that "shamanism" is a broad and often inappropriate term. The practices dubbed "shamanism" vary a lot but share basic elements. Not many people just become a shaman, they are chosen by spirits and usually go through a terrible ordeal before they take up the calling. This can include physical illness that can't be cured as well as madness and psychological torture. People can do spirit work, but under no circumstances should they call themselves a shaman without having gone through the illness that truly makes one a shaman. Often, a person only becomes one as a last resort because their illness has become so bad and there are stories of people in Siberia who have denied the calling and died as a result. It's very serious business. But, in some cultures, you do it voluntarily, though not without trials and tribulations. Voluntary shamans are generally weaker than those who are called. Either way, death, of a sort, is part of the process.

The term Shaman comes from the Evenk people of Siberia. Even in Siberia, where the term originates, it is not used by all the different peoples; there are lots of different names for this particular function. The common consensus is that shamanism is a practice and animism is the "belief" that it's based in, i.e. animism is the belief in spirits in nature and things and shamanism is a set of practices that certain individuals perform based in this worldview. The terms shaman and shamanism have simply been propagated by anthropologists who use it as a blanket term to describe all sorts of people who practice something with certain shared elements. The most common are the drum and journeying along with the shamanic illness which calls the individual to shamanize. Also, the belief that spirits cause illness.

I recently read a story where a man, going through the preliminary process of becoming a shaman, wandering in a visionary state in the wilderness, conversed with a man and a woman who were the spirits of a couple of diseases. One of them was the smallpox. Also, in Siberia, some different shamans simply serve different functions and specialize in only certain diseases or functions. In another story, there was a spirit who, as far as I understood it, was basically the embodiment of the Soviet occupation and the oppression they caused. It's really interesting the way certain peoples in Siberia see things.

Anyway, there is a lot of misinformation on the internet. Be careful of new agey websites, be skeptical, and remember that the beliefs of different traditions vary widely. As far as all I have studied, unless you exhibit the signs of being a shaman, few legitimate teachers will show you the ways of it. A Cherokee medicine man will not even teach a non Cherokee about their medicine and their guide book on the practices is written in coded language so that no one will understand unless their are taught to. Anyone who charges is most likely fake, though apparently some legitimate shamans hold workshops to teach certain things. Here is where there is a difference between practicing certain techniques and actually being a shaman. There are certain practices that regular people can do, pretty much anybody can journey, though it shouldn't be taken lightly; but there are things that only real shamans can do, and things that only real shamans should try to do.

Just be careful where you get your information. If you have guides, surely they will show you where you need to go.

Best wishes :)

EDIT: Oh, and im not sure where you're from but, it would be worth it to try to look into your own people's tradition if there exists one from your area or in your culture of origin. No need to travel to America.
 

EyeofOdin

Active Member
Read books and look up websites and teachers, even if you have to cross traditions, because I know that information can be scarce.

Also, one of the things that shamans, pagans and animists did was they were adaptable. They didn't believe in hard and fast and set in stone rules. In the transition of the classical age to the medieval, as Christianity became more popular and polytheistic traditions had to go into hiding, they didn't construct proud marble temples with gargantuan ivory statues and use huge permanent bonfires and a glamorous altar that had the sacrificial sword and staff or priests and kept worshipping as their ancestors had done so for thousands of years. When it was necessary, they changed, and used small wooden or wax figurines that could be thrown into a fire if the authorities came by, a common kitchen knife, a stool or nightstand and a common twig or stick.

Also, whenever the peoples moved around, they didn't view the gods however the did before. When the entered a new land or there was a cultural shift, there were either new gods or a shift among them. In Greece gods that had been tribal, Indo-European shamanic deities became glamorous, "civilized" gods, and those same deities became deities of war and nature for the Germanic peoples, also they became extremely abstract deities to the Indian peoples with rich, unnatural and dramatic symbolism.

So if you want to start out into an animistic spirituality, be flexible. Look at what you have, look at what's around you. What gods or spirits are contacting you? Consider the spirit of a tree in your front yard, the spirit of an ancestor, the gods of the culture of land you're in (If in Europe pay tribute to European deities. If in America pay tribute to Native American spirits and deities)and possibly a household deity or a land spirit. These are but a few examples of entities you can start with.

The point of animism and shamanism, in my opinion, is to honor and connect. These connections can be made to your ancestors, celestial powers, land gods or spirits, primordial deities, levels of yourself etc.

So before you start doing spirit journeying and trying to "find out" your spirit guides, start with what you know, and the spirits that are already here. Before making new friends, see what you can do with your friends now and what people your friends now can introduce you to, to come up with an analogy at the top of my head. Start out small too, so you can be consistent. Don't start out with grand hour long rites and meditations. When you wake up, thank your ancestors. When you go outside to work, notice the land and respect it, don't walk on the grass and walk on the sidewalk, even a small blade of grass and a small bug in your yard has had a birth, a mother, a father, and seeks for food, survival and reproduction, just like the rest of us. When in your car, talk to The Powers, whichever ones you connect with. Thank them for the day. Ask them to be with you.

Give small offerings daily, either on an altar that consists of a simple symbol, like a Gaia statue, a tree, a Buddha or a symbol or deity from the culture you want to connect with, or give the offerings outside. Invite the land, ancestors and Cosmic Powers to come an join in the feast, or invoke a particular spirit or god.

When I started out into Northern European Shamanism, all I did was have a small altar with a picture of the earth I had painted, incense and an offering bowl. No cloth. No drinking horn. No expensive statue. No hallowing hammer. No prayer beads. Not even a Mjolnir pendant. I did small rituals whenever I wanted to give and receive gifts with The Powers. Now, I have a greater altar and even an entire sacred space separated from the rest of my room. It has a mini Yggdrasil, many altar candles and many divinatory tools and offering bowls. I'm STILL growing, and I want to eventually have an entire temple or chapel room, but these things take time.

As your spirituality grows so will your practices and tools, but when your starting off start off simply in both your spirituality, the practices and what you have. Don't get caught up in all of the fancy things, from whatever shamanic, animistic or polytheistic tradition you find. Don't be too mesmerized by the beautiful marble and gold greek statuettes. Don't go gaga for a goddess and god statue, an expensive and huge athame or a cauldron. Don't fall in love with seated throne statues of Odin, Thor and Frey and try to recreate the temple at Upsalla overnight. Don't get too excited about a grand shrine of the hall of two truths and get over priced Isis, Osiris, Horus, Thoth and Anubis statuettes with the scale of the heart and feather. Don't buy animal pelts and statues of animal spirits. Don't fall in love with FLUFF. Fall in love with the energy of The Cosmic Powers, the earth, and the ancestors.

Well that's my advice. Good luck!
 
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